Modern day radio communication devices are being continually designed and manufactured with greater reliability yet lower manufacturing costs and simplified assembly. With a continuing demand for better capabilities and additional service features the circuitry has become ever increasingly complex and more dense when arranged on associated circuit boards or the like.
The expected increase in operating efficiencies and new or additional service features have been, for the most part, achieved on a reasonably broad front. However, this does not mean that operating parameters or requirements have simply been ignored or somehow has, or can be designed away.
In RF circuitry, for example, shielding is still a necessity which requires appropriate connection of such shield and adequate circuit ground. A shield of an appropriate conductive material must somehow be fastened to a conductive ground circuit on the printed circuitry board yet be readily removable for serving of the RF circuitry, being so shielded, if the need so arises.
A conventional approach providing a ground connection between a metallic RF shield and the conductive ground circuit on the printed circuit board is to simply solder an edge of the shield to the conductive circuit. Certain applications requiring a grounded RF shield, advantageously utilizing a reflow solder process (i.e. solder on a printed circuit board contact is heated as the board moves through an infrared oven), may easily achieve a soldered electrical connection. However, the placement of some RF shields to the conductive circuit. The manual soldering process is expensive, time consuming and subject to reliability problems.
Another conventional approach of effecting RF shielding utilizing a ground connection employs a spring member, extending laterally from the RF shield, of the RF shield having a dimple imbedded into a free end of the spring member. When the free end of the spring member is forced against the conductive circuit a curved portion of the dimple contacts the conducive circuit forming the ground connection. This ground connection may be utilized for certain RF shielding applications but is not as reliable as the manual soldered or reflow soldered ground connections.
Consequently, there is a need for a ground connection between the RF shield and the printed circuit board which yields a reliable connection without relying on manual soldering or reflow soldering processes.